A brilliantly written intriguing read. I can’t imagine the pain of having a child go missing. Matt and Ava’s story feels so raw and real. I got totally caught up in their lives and the emotions of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Wow. Just wow. If physiological thriller is your cup of tea then look no further for your next read.
Started this book last night and have finished it already I really couldn’t put it down. Fabulous writing, great characters, brilliant plot and a great twist at the end. What more could you ask for?
The story starts by introducing us to husband and wife Ava and Matt who have a toddler daughter, sometimes mischievous Abi. What parent hasn’t had that feeling of dread that something could happen to their child, but what could possibly go wrong with a sleeping Abi left strapped in her buggy while Ava nips upstairs for a few minutes.
As a parent I felt the raw emotion and pain that Ava must have felt coming down to discover her daughters buggy empty and the front door open. The writing in this first section is raw and so well written that I was holding my breath throughout this and for much of the book.
The story depicts the inevitable police search and the family a year on from the fateful day.
A complex and twisty novel sees Ava and Matt stretched t the limits of their relationship and questioning each other and those around them. The ending came as a complete surprise and I loved the last few chapters as the author skilfully wove the tale to its twisty conclusion.
Highly recommended and the best of the books I have read by this author, all of which I would also recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating 4.5 stars

I would imagine most parents have experienced that heart stopping moment when they lose sight of their child, either in the playground or out shopping, although the scenarios are endless in their variations. It certainly happened for me when my own daughter was about three years old but thankfully hers was a disappearance resolved quickly unlike the situation Ava and Matt find themselves in. On a ordinary weekday day morning Ava and two year old Abi are saying goodbye to Matt as he cycles off to his job as an architect. Intending to go and feed the ducks in the nearby Thames, mother and daughter first return home to clean up Abi’s knees and hands where she’s fallen out of her buggy. All sorted with Abi safe and secure in her pushchair, one hand clutching the bread for the ducks, the other clutching beloved toy Mr Sloth, a gift from her godparents, Ava takes advantage of the opportunity to dash upstairs, retrieve her phone and go to the bathroom. Heading downstairs, having been waylaid by the urge to scroll through her phone and gather some laundry, Ava finds the pushchair empty and the front door wide open. So begins a frantic search for the missing girl with Ava increasingly out of her mind with worry as precious minutes tick by. Combing every inch of the house with no success she continues her search outside, her desperation mounting. Ignoring the new next door neighbours, the Lovegoods, presuming they have left for the day, she then knocks on best friends Neil and Bella’s door in the vain hope Abi has toddled off there. Assuming they too have already departed for work Ava then widens her search beyond the confines of their street hoping and praying no harm has come to her child. With no sighting of Abi, Ava then contacts her husband and together they realise the police will have to become involved. This is a storyline to fill your heart with dread as the search for Abi gathers pace, yet yields no positive result. What has happened to this little girl is anyones guess.

The author excels at expressing Ava’s every emotion as her life implodes around her, caught in no man’s land between the present and the past. As the days slowly pass the case is not officially closed yet with no new leads the presumption that Ava has drowned does not bring closure for this family. It’s as if the author has crawled inside Ava’s mind articulating her innermost thoughts with an incisiveness that astounded me. Time for the Atkins has been forever suspended in that moment prior to Abi’s disappearance although it’s fair to say the focus is mainly on Ava as a mother bereft, riddled with guilt and what ifs. What if she hadn’t left Abi in her buggy in the hallway whilst she grabbed her phone, spending precious minutes scrolling through her feed, grabbing a few moments of peace. What if she’d shut the front door properly whilst upstairs gathering the laundry. What if she’d realised Abi had learned to unfasten the clasp on her buggy? What if.....what if...what if...is a constant refrain, ticking like a metronome, marking time between before and after. I loved the author’s use of this analogy given Ava is/was a piano teacher and her recognition of the tiny ways in which all mothers guilty snatch a few moments to themselves whilst their precious charges are either asleep or suitably entertained. We can all relate to that which is why this storyline is so very realistic. You can’t dismiss the devastating effect Abi’s disappearance has on Matt and friends/godparents Neil (Nee Nee as Abi affectionately calls him) and Bella. Besides Ava, it is Neil’s relationship with the little two year old that I found so heartwarming and so all the more heartbreaking for its loss. All lives have been irrevocably changed but it’s Ava’s role as a mother who’s failed in her duty to keep her daughter safe that I found myself most moved by.

As life loses all vibrancy, the colour leeched out of every day, save for baby Fred’s existence, I feared for Ava’s sanity and her marriage. It’s only when an invite to the Lovegoods housewarming party is received that this broken woman reluctantly faces the prospect she’ll never know for certain what has happened to her daughter and that life must continue for the sake of her second child.
Every fibre of Ava’s being is taut with apprehension prior to the party. Everyone else is ridiculously curious to see how months of building work has transformed this home into an architectural delight. Ava’s interaction with friends Neil and Bella is painfully awkward, and I could sense the gaping hole Abi has left in their lives as all four tiptoe around each other treating Ava as the fragile figure she has become. It’s a party in which alcohol will inevitably loosen tongues, a catalyst for some shocking unexpected truths that will further rock the foundations of these peoples lives. The pace nicely picks up here giving the impetus the storyline needs since at this point it is in danger of becoming repetitive in terms of portraying over and over Ava’s state of mind. You can almost hear the pop and crackle of Ava’s synapses firing up as she braves the attention of all those at the Lovegoods party. There is a definitive moment when I went “aahh so this is where the author is taking us” but I still wasn’t fully prepared for everything else to come. Instead prepare yourself for the most dramatic of denouements.

I loved that the author has chosen to place the emphasis on Ava and Matt, their friends and neighbours rather than relying on a police investigation to propel the narrative forward.
The Housewarming is an emotionally charged read that threatens to engulf the reader in tidal waves of sadness yet I couldn’t put it down. I yearned for closure for Ava, my heart aching for her every step of the way as she struggles through a situation that forms the basis of every parents worst nightmare. It’s a storyline where relationships and friendships are severely pushed to their limits, a storyline where the tension is constant. For me the strength of this domestic drama lies in the sublime writing at the very beginning which drew me into Ava and Matt’s world without little Abi. Not quite deserving of 5 stars in my opinion but so very nearly there! Reading The Housewarming, however harrowing the content has given me the desire to read more from this author. If you’ve yet to discover S E Lynes then be sure to add The Housewarming to your list! My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars!

Honestly I don't know how I feel about this book, in some ways I really did enjoy reading it because it was fast paced only at around the 50% mark but it was still enough until then to keep me reading but also some of the decisions made by the characters were pretty stupid.

Ava believes she has locked the door and goes upstairs for several minutes, her daughter is strapped into her stroller downstairs but when Ava returns her daughter is gone and the door is unlocked. Has someone taken her daughter or did she get loose and something awful happen to her? This takes place between that day and one year in future. You can feel the heartache and grief felt by the parents and those close to the child however some of the decisions made in this book more towards the reveals had me frowning and wondering why they would even be written. I still enjoyed my time reading the book though and I will read more by this author in the future.

Well... this was the book that kept on giving. Just when I thought I had it all worked out, the author threw in another curve ball, spinning me round and setting me off in a completely different direction. Phew, what a ride.
We start a year after it happened. A year since Ava & Matt's daughter Abi disappeared. Ava thought she was safely strapped in her pushchair, wasn't away from her long, but came back downstairs to find the pushchair empty and the front door wide open. Back in the present and Ava's neighbours are having a housewarming party. Ava has been struggling since Abi went, and has really gone inside herself, but both her and Matt agree that it might be a good idea to pop round, even for just a moment. She's just started to let herself have a small amount of freedom and enjoyment when she finds out something, something so key to the events of a year ago that throws everything she thought and feared back into her present. Could this new evidence uncover what really happened to Abi? And what will the fallout be?
Oh my days! This story had be literally glued to my Kindle. All The Way Through. I sat there as shock after shock rained down on me, knocking me every which way. Heart-breaking and devastating as we flit between past and present, to fill in the gaps of what Ava thought happened, and what REALLY happened. And so many people involved. So many lives touched. So much heartbreak. And, at the end of the day, how it all could have been so very different.
There are lessons to be learned too.
Pacing is perfect. Enough is divulged along the way to both keep the reader's attention but at the same time, enough is held back - to be drip fed in - to keep the reader going. Twists and turns aplenty delivered all the way through. Characterisation is also very well done. Especially given what happens. Which makes it hard to qualify that statement for fear of spoilers.
I've read quite a few of this author's books and every one a winner for me. This is no exception and joins an already impressive back catalogue. I have a few to play catch-up with which will keep me going until I can find out what she has in store for next time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A fantastic story. Well written and intriguing all the way through. I raced through it. I am a firm fan of this author and this book reminds me why!

The whole street have been invited to the housewarming at the Lovegoods, everyone is so excited to see the result of the renovations they've had done, everyone except one couple, Matt & Ava, because this time last year, their two year old, Abi, went missing, Ava is still struggling and doesn't want to spend time with people who don't understand their loss, even their best friends, and Abi's godparents, Neil and Bella. For the last 12 months, Ava has relived that nightmare every single day. Now, a year later, Matt persuades her to go to the party, just for an hour he says, it will do her good. Everyone is enjoying themselves and, just when Ava thought she knew everything about that day, she hears something that will change the events of what happened forever.

This story begins with every parent's worst nightmare; Abi, a sweet little 2 year old is missing, her mother is frantically searching the neighbourhood for her, but she has vanished without a trace, nobody has seen her and Ava must live with the guilt that she left the front door open, for the rest of her life. The Housewarming is told over two timelines; the present day and 12 months ago and alternating narrators, Ava and Matt, each dealing with the fallout of the trauma in their own way, Matt trying to live as normal as possible for the sake of Ava, and Ava just existing, going through the motions day by day, she cannot forgive herself for leaving the door open and it's eating her up inside.

In true Lynes style the author delivers this latest read with compassion and integrity, detailing how each of the characters are dealing with their grief, continuing with their lives, concealing their true feelings. Each character is portrayed sensitively and authentically, and her obvious research for this book shines through as always. Since reading her first novel Valentina, when I hear that her next novel is available I download without even reading the blurb, because I know that I am in for an amazing read and I'm never disappointed as her work just keeps on getting better, her stories deliver a rollercoaster of emotions every single time, with twists that railroad you when you least expect them and boy, was I not prepared for this curveball! Her plots are a work of art, in this case focussing heavily on friendships, relationships and trust and what happens when that trust is categorically broken. If you love an intense, edge of your seat read then look no further than an S E Lynes masterpiece.

I'd like to thank Bookouture and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Goodreads now and Amazon on publication day.

The Housewarming is a heart-wrenching story that gripped me from start to finish, and I’ve been thinking about it for days. Incredibly well written and emotionally-driven, it’s a well-paced story with a shocking turn of events, and I highly recommend you give this one a read!

From the opening paragraphs alone, I instantly knew this was going to be a book that I loved. I related to Ava immediately. It’s tough being a mother. Like Ava, I cherish the brief moments of peace you manage to find during the day, whether it be doing a menial task or scrolling through your social media, to enjoy a few minutes of silence and take a moment to breathe. But I also know how all the while, you’re thinking about how anything can happen in those few minutes of silence, and that worry is always in the back of your mind.

For Ava, it was in these extra few minutes that she took for herself that this ordeal occurred. Abi went missing. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, one that even the thought of fills my stomach with dread. The story is enough to invest any reader, and Ava’s pain is so raw that you can feel every ounce of it.

The narrative is a little repetitive at times as it rushes through Ava’s thoughts as she tortures herself over and over again by going over every tiny detail, but this represents her mindset brilliantly. This fast-paced and slightly fragmented narrative also helps to build up the suspense, as Ava doesn’t give everything away straight away. You become desperate to know, desperate for a bit of good news along the way or for a glimpse of hope.

I sympathised with Matt and Neil, too, and appreciate that Lynes took the time to see how Abi’s disappearance affected so many others. It’s an excellent exploration of grief and blame, as well as the need for answers in a situation that nobody ever wants to find themselves in.

The Housewarming gripped me completely, and the closing chapters are just as good as the first. There’s so much more going on than the one thing you’re trying to predict. I thought I had sussed it at one point, but I couldn’t have guessed the domino effect of a single act that escalated on that day.

And although there are many twists in the closing chapters, you can see all of the hints and minor developments that pointed towards this outcome when you look back at it. Lynes does a brilliant job of this, ensuring that the story keeps you guessing but that it all clicks into place perfectly when the events are re-examined.

I loved this book and can’t recommend it enough. I haven’t felt this invested in a story in a long time and will certainly be seeking out more from S.E. Lynes.

This was a pretty heart-wrenching story, Ava and Matt lose their baby girl Abi; the story follows the family healing a year after her disappearance. Ava and Matt try to find peace with their young child, Fred, but something feels off through their life, the looming uncertainty of what happened to their child.

I liked this story and it's extremely well written but it is a little slow for my taste. I felt like over half of the book was just a few days we were reflecting on. There also are not a lot of characters and the peaks you get of the characters didn't allow me to get connected with the book.

Thank you S.E. Lynes, Bookouture, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to @netgalley and @bookouture for the advance review copy in return for a review.

After her daughter goes missing, Ava can’t help but feel crippling guilt. Maybe if she hadn’t left the front door open, or if she hadn’t gotten distracted by her phone...maybe if she just paid more attention, Abi would still be here. Instead, Ava is drowning in her grief and not even her husband, Matt, can pull her out.

A year later, Ava and Matt’s neighbors host a housewarming party and while in attendance, Ava hears and sees things that have her thinking maybe she doesn’t know the whole story behind her daughter’s disappearance and maybe those you think you can trust are the ones you actually have to watch out for. Told from alternating perspectives, The Housewarming paints a vivid picture filled with hysteria and paranoia thats sure to have you questioning everyone.

The Housewarming got off to a slow start but once it took off, it took off! The pain felt by Ava was real and raw, and I felt myself living my worst nightmare as a parent. The twists and turns kept me guessing and just when I thought I had it figured out, everything got turned upside down again.

Grab your copy when The Housewarming releases on October 23rd!

My Synopsis:
A door left open and a child gone missing...every parent's nightmare. Ava was sure she left her daughter safe and sound downstairs, yet when she notices her daughter missing and the door wide open, a neighbourhood search begins. One year later, at a neighbours housewarming party, Ava hears a comment that makes her rethink that dreadful day and begins to wonder what really happened. Did she leave the door open or did someone else?

My thoughts/opinions:
It did take me a little while to get in to this book. To be completely honest, I almost put it down. I found the first couple chapters (okay..maybe 1/3 of the book) a little confusing and there seemed to be so many short and choppy sentences that I was just speed reading them a little bit. However, right when I was thinking that this may be a DNF novel, things started to pick up and make you think 'Wait...what's happening. This just got interesting'. So naturally, I powered through while burning my eyeballs from reading on the tablet. The ending was definitely not what I was expecting, so that is always a bonus, but it's not exactly a 'gripping' thriller either. I would say this would be a 'get from the library if you need a quick weekend read' type of novel!

The Housewarming by S.E. Lynes is another page-turner from an author who has very quickly established herself as a must read for me. The mystery surrounding the case of a missing child had me emotionally invested from the very start.

When Ava gets distracted by her phone, she is horrified to find that her toddler daughter Abi has unstrapped herself from her seat, wandered through an open door, and disappeared without a trace. Ava blames herself for her carelessness in leaving the door open. A search fails to yield any results, and Ava and her husband Matt must eventually must find a way to move forward, if only for the sake of their infant son. When the neighbours host a housewarming party, Ava is far from enthused and very reluctantly agrees that she will put in an appearance. Her decision proves fortuitous, however, as Ava will gain insight about what really happened to her beautiful daughter on that ill-fated day.

This is a well paced and twisty read that takes a meandering path to a startling truth. Recommended. 4.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ARC.

My! What an excellent book. I have read a couple of Ms Lynes books and this was the best one for me. I liked the idea of setting the story one year after the incident and discussing how it has affected the lives of everyone in retrospect. The characters and their flaws are very practical and natural. The conclusion derived from the behaviour of each one in the final chapter deserves an extra star. This story will stay with me for a long time. Well done 👍

My heart was in my mouth on more than one occasion reading this book!!

What a fantastic read.
When a couples child goes missing after the front door is left open, they have to cope with trying to find her. Just when you think your at the end of the story ..... another twist comes along. Gripping book which kept me wanting to read more!

Thanks Netgalley & Bookouture letting me read this pre publication

Publish Date - 23rd October

#netgalley #bookouture #thriller

#TheHousewarming #NetGalley

I’ve read all of S.E Lynes novels and I am huge fan, that goes without saying. But I am still taken by surprise and awed at the skill of this author has to manipulate, guide and twist the reader.
Ava’s toddler daughter went missing a year ago and now, next door are having a flashy housewarming party to show off their renovations. It’s not even the things that are said, but that liminal space between what is spoken and what is done that sets things in motion at the party and sets off series of events that bring us crashing to a final conclusion. I don’t want to give anything away, because I sincerely believe you really won’t see the end coming.
Imagine that moment when you temporarily lose sight of your child in the supermarket or playground. Now imagine that feeling never ending.
Ave goes upstairs for a moment, a few minutes of quiet and in that space, her two year old Abi goes missing.
What follows is the nightmare none of us dare imagine, a liminal space where grief never ends and even those closest to us become strangers.
Ava is all of us who have ever had that sickening dread when we temporarily lose sight our child in the supermarket or playground. But for her it is so much worse, unable to move past the initial grief at Abi's disappearance and with so many questions left unanswered she is suspended in that torturous ‘where are you?’ moment, and so are we.
Handled with any less skill, I would have put this book to one side. I’m not going to lie, it was a hard read in places. But Lynes sets the pace and as a reader you have no choice but to keep reading. I could not put it down - that hackneyed and often used phrase, comes into its own here. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I finished reading at 2am sobbing, partly with relief and partly…well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

This was another amazing book by S E Susie Lynes I love her other work and was so excited to be approved to read this one and it certainly didn’t disappoint. As soon as I started reading I couldn’t put it down and it had me gripped from
The first page it had a brilliant storyline and is an enticing psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns and lots of shocks along the way. It is hard to review as I don’t want to give any spoilers away but I promise once you start reading you will be hooked and will be in for a few gasp moments along the way.

Is Ava a woman who had a daughter, or one who has a daughter?
Is Ava a mother whose daughter is alive, or Is little Abi gone forever?

Someone knows the answer to those questions but their sense of self preservation is so strong that they will keep this secret despite the obvious grief it is causing this young mother.

Her angst and heartache were so palpable. 💔
My heart was breaking for her!!

A year later, a RANDOM comment made at the neighbor’s Housewarming party, will shed new light on what happened the day that little Abi, toddled out of her open front door, never to be seen again.

There are many authors who write stories which grab you from page 1, but leave you disappointed by the end, with an implausible finish, or unanswered questions.

But S.E. Lynes is a bit different.

I have found that all of her books begin with a more moderate pace, ramping up considerably by the 50% point, till you reach the ALWAYS satisfying conclusion.

If you pay CLOSE attention to the right comments being made, you will pick up on some clues.,
But, If you pay attention to the wrong comments, you will be cleverly misdirected toward the wrong suspect!

Which comments will you focus on??

I would like to thank Bookouture for my gifted copy.
It was a pleasure to provide a candid review!
Available October 23, 2020!

"I live in the past; I survive in the present"

Ava can't stop blaming herself for her daughter's disappearance after leaving her unattended for a few minutes. Did someone take her? Did she wander on her own and drowned in the river?

One year later and there're still no answers about what happened to Abi, but after a comment heard during her neighbors' housewaming party, Ava will start wondering if what she thought she knew about that day is the truth.

This was my first S.E. Lynes book so I didn't know what to expect genre wise. From the synopsis I thought this would be a domestic suspense story but instead I found a family drama about the aftermath of losing a child, how it affects the parents, their marriage, their friendships, and how the fact of not knowing what happened to their child will impact their lives, not allowing them to grieve and get some closure that lets them move on.

I must confess that at first I was quite underwhelmed. Although the first few chapters conveyed to perfection the fear, anxiety and angst Ava felt when she found her daughter missing, it became a bit repetitive, with her wallowing in her misery a bit too much (I know this may sound harsh and undestand that irl that would be the normal reaction, but this is a novel and things need to move along a bit more quickly).

Once the story centered on the present timeline it became much more interesting, picking up the pace right after the housewarming party. Towards the end the twists started coming. One of them was my working theory practically from the beginning. The other one I didn't see coming. The chapters where we get to know what happened the day Abi went missing were truly heartbreaking and emotional. The fact they could act with such coolness, thinking only about themselves, with no care at all about the consequences for others, was truly terrifying and brought a knot to my stomach.

Don't come into this expecting a thriller full of twists and turns. "The housewarming" is a story of characters suffering an unimaginable loss and the unresolved grief they must go through till they find out the truth.

At the end there was a quite interesting author's note about the genesis of this book and how the current situation with COVID-19 affected the writing process.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing an eARC in exchange for an hones review.

Creepy crazy story that involves a quaint neighborhood. Wonderful characters that the reader gets to know well. Tense, terrifying and heartbreaking as well as tender friendships, strong couples and the undeniable bond of a mother and her child.
Snag this book! You won’t be disappointed.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My heart hurts after reading this book. Over time I’ve become very sensitive to books with things happening to little kids and this one was overwhelming. I broke down and sobbed my eyes out. The book isn’t a a thriller really but is more of a domestic mystery. It is very revealing of the human psyche and the ending is elaborate to present the psychological aspect of the characters. The characters are well developed and real. It’s scary how real they are because it makes me sad that we live a world where this story may be a reality. A heart wrenching tale written very eloquently. The book really left me sad and devastated. I could feel the pain of the parents and anger at the people around them. The book definitely needs a trigger warning of ‘children affected’ but I can’t say much as I’ll end up giving away the plot if I do.